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Any help appreciated!

Piranha091

Seedling
Joined
15 Jun 2009
Messages
3
Hello there, i am the owner of a piraya piranha and want to add a few live plants to eat up extra nitrates as filter is only fluval 305. I do 1 30 %water change every week. Tank is cycled, Params are as follows,
Ammonia-0ppm
Nitrite-0ppm
P.h- 7.2
Nitrate -20ppm

I would like to know what is the beest plants and easiest to look after. I have no clue about what to do with them.
i have T8 GLO Lighting2 x 42” 40W GLO lamps (80W) on a 4ft tank(240 litres)
I want to know how to keep plants alive instead of jumping on them and buying. Any advice is appreciated
Cheers
 
Hi,
Clues can be had here: Setting up a “higher” tech planted tank and here: A general guide to plant maintenance

There is no such thing as best plant. It's all about what you like to look at and how much trouble you are willing to put up with to see what the plant looks like. If you look at the Tropica website Tropica Species List You can see many individual species from A to Z along witha description of their demands. More importantly, browse this website, especially the Journals section and you can see the plants in the flesh and how others have fared. You can also browse the Plant section to get further details and member experiences with specific species.

Cheers,
 
This doesnt answer my question though. It does not tell me how much gravel i should have. How many hours of light? Or are all plants different? I only want 2 keep 2 or 3 plants for now to get the hang of it and then i will then eventually get bigger. I want the ones that will live with low maintanence and will look natural for my piraya
 
Piranha091 said:
This doesnt answer my question though. It does not tell me how much gravel i should have. How many hours of light? Or are all plants different? I only want 2 keep 2 or 3 plants for now to get the hang of it and then i will then eventually get bigger. I want the ones that will live with low maintanence and will look natural for my piraya

fair play to Clive though, you didnt ask those questions first off ;)

you can have as much substrate as you like, minimum of 2" otherwise it gets hard to plant. Slope it towards the rear to create a sense of depth.
8-10hrs of light,

yes, all plants have different requirements, but buying just 2 or 3 will not have a significant affect on the NO3 levels. You need a tank full of plants to make any dent in them. but then once you get a full tank you need to start adding NO3 to support the demands of the plants.

20ppm isnt high at all, and in fact if you have low NO3 it can bring on algae issues, including blue green algae (cyanobacteria). 20ppm is a good level to achieve :)

take a look at the tutorials section for more in deph articles. viewforum.php?f=34

easy plants include:

anubias
java fern
hygrophillia
egeria densa
limnophillia sessiliflora (ambulia
hornwort
echindorous sp
java moss
 
aaronnorth said:
Piranha091 said:
This doesnt answer my question though. It does not tell me how much gravel i should have. How many hours of light? Or are all plants different? I only want 2 keep 2 or 3 plants for now to get the hang of it and then i will then eventually get bigger. I want the ones that will live with low maintanence and will look natural for my piraya

fair play to Clive though, you didnt ask those questions first off ;)

you can have as much substrate as you like, minimum of 2" otherwise it gets hard to plant. Slope it towards the rear to create a sense of depth.
8-10hrs of light,

yes, all plants have different requirements, but buying just 2 or 3 will not have a significant affect on the NO3 levels. You need a tank full of plants to make any dent in them. but then once you get a full tank you need to start adding NO3 to support the demands of the plants.

20ppm isnt high at all, and in fact if you have low NO3 it can bring on algae issues, including blue green algae (cyanobacteria). 20ppm is a good level to achieve :)

take a look at the tutorials section for more in deph articles. http://ukaps.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=34

easy plants include:

anubias
java fern
hygrophillia
egeria densa
limnophillia sessiliflora (ambulia
hornwort
echindorous sp
java moss

Thanks for your help mate. I was looking on getting some vallis for the back of my tank and for one side to create cover. Also looking on getting some java moss/ fern to attack to my bg wood(been told this spreads very quickly though. My tank water is tuned over 4 times per hour. I know it is more for fully planted tanks but i nly have 1 5" piraya. I got told to use easycarbo to keep plants healthy and this will recreate the injetions you guys have in your tanks. I got told i will also need 2 add a fertiliser to the tank to feed the plants. I was only looking on 3-5 plants maybe. I do not have very much gravel but i could always add some more around where the plants will be when they arrive.

Thanks fr all of your help guys, ino these questions may sound really silly but i have asked on the piranhaforum.co.uk and they dont really knw much abut live plants as much as you guys do. Also i live in Merseyside s where is a good place i could order very healthy plants from
 
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